• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.906-921
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to survey the students' career choice related to science. Important factors of career choice were identified through factor analysis. 'Perception of career related to science', 'preference for science learning' and 'participation in science-related activity' were three main factors of science-related career choice. Students' responses to the three main factors were compared according to their career choice, grade and gender using ANOVA. Regression analysis was adopted to find out the relative importance among the three main factors. The subjects were 947 grade 6, 9 and 11 students in Seoul. Numbers of boys and girls in each grade was almost same. The questionnaire was developed to know the factors of students' science-related career choice after preliminary research and literature survey. The ratio of science-related career choice was not high (26%). Students' responses to and the relative importance of the three main factors differed with the grade and gender. From the results, making students have preference for science and giving them more opportunities of science-related activity is more important than making them have positive perception of science-related career. It is required to make a material for science career education considering the differences of age and gender using this study results.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.517-530
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to find out a model to explain the process of students' science-related career choice by identifying the causal relationships between science career choice and related factors. Important factors of science-related career choice were identified through factor analysis. 'Perception about career related to science', 'preference for science learning' and 'participation in science related activity' were three main factors of science-related career choice. A questionnaire was developed to know the factors of students' science-related career choice, and so as to make it possible to be analysed by structural equation modeling. The subject were 947 grade 6, 9, and 11 students in Seoul. Numbers of boys and girls in each grade was almost same. According to the structural equation modeling, 4 corrected models were obtained. In all 4 corrected models, 'perception about career related to science' had direct influence, and 'preference for science learning' and 'participation in science related activity' had indirect influence on science-related career choice. In the most fitting model. 'perception about career related to science' had an effect on science-related career choice with standardized total effect coefficient 1.03(direct effect 0.82, indirect effect 0.21). 'Preference for science learning', which influence 'participation in science related activity', had an effect on science-related career choice with standardized indirect effect coefficient 0.65. 'Participation in science related activity', which influence 'perception about career related to science'. had an effect on science-related career choice with standardized indirect effect coefficient 0.79. The implication to school science education is that it is most effective to raise the 'perception about career related to science' in order to make more students choose science related career. It is also effective to have more students participate in science related activity and enhance the preference for science learning. To explain the process of science related career choice more fully, it is necessary to build a more comprehensive model containing more factors influencing science-related career choice. It is necessary to test and complement the structural equation model by enlarging the subject to science high school students and science related college students.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate elementary students' perception on science-related career and teachers' perception on science-related career education. The subjects of this study were 196 5^th and 6^th elementary students and 100 elementary teachers. The results show that 28% of the students desire to have science-related career. More Boys desire science-related careers than girls, and more students with higher level of perception in their science achievement also do than lower level students. The reason students did not desired science-related career were that they were not interested in science and did not have fun in science. Students' perceptions in the factors of science-related career choice were mostly negative except socio-cultural factors. The results of teacher's perception show that 42% of the teachers conducted science-related career education. A lot of teacher did not conduct science-related career education since they perceived the career education were not necessary or important. Students' negative perception on the factors of science-related career choice and the teachers' low perception on necessity of science-related career education can negatively influence students' science-related career choice. The more efforts were required in order to increase positive perception on science-related career.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.675-690
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• 2006

This study investigated students' views in relation to a career in science as a first step towards developing science career education programs and materials. The instrument was developed through preliminary surveys. The questionnaire was sent to, administered and returned by 3608 students including 1036 primary, 1137 middle, and 1435 high school students, who were selected through stratified cluster sampling from all over the country. The results were analyzed using statistical package program. The students' image view of science, preference for science and science learning, perception of science achievement, career hope for oneself, degree of hope in getting science-related job, perception about science-related career, important factors of science career choice, and their hope for science/non-science career and the reason for their choice in the past and present were investigated. The results show that "science as an experimentation activity" was the most frequent image view of science. The preference for science and science learning was more positive than the perception of science achievement. The percentage of total students who want to have science career was 21%, and this percentage of middle school students was especially low. The most frequent answers for advantages of science career were 'useful for national development', 'possible to get new knowledge', and those for disadvantages were 'dangerous', and 'too much to study'. The most frequent reason for students' choice of a science career was 'interest in science and science learning'. Judging from these results, the basic direction for science career education should be in raising the students' preference for and interest in science learning. The positive awareness for a career in science and vision for a science job in the future should be given through a science career education and science career education proper to the students' developmental stage and characteristics is more important.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.613-624
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• 2014

The aim of this study is to explore why Korean 4th graders' interest in science was not connected to career aspirations in science using the perspective of science identity. Forty-five students with a high interest in science but with low science-related aspirations have been chosen from 488 elementary school students who have completed a questionnaire exploring students' interest and career aspirations in science. Among them, 19 who have received parental permission participated in in-depth interviews examining students' science identities (interest, competence, and recognition by others in science) and their experiences and perceptions of science-related activities. The results showed that most students have limited or situational interest in science, a gap between the perception of their competence in science and their competence for a science-related career, and negative recognition by others in science. Also, participants' science identities and low aspirations for a science-related career constrained their attention and participation in science-related activities. Students' negative science identities and low aspirations for science-related careers were based on the high standards of science-related careers. It seems that these erroneous perceptions and expectations led them to differentiate themselves from students pursuing science-related careers, as well as to perceive that their interest, competence, and recognition by others in science were not enough to pursue a science-related career. This study has implications for understanding the current condition of young students with low aspirations for science careers and exploring desirable objectives and strategies to promote activities to raise their aspirations for science-related careers.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.497-518
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• 2008

This study aims to examine how Science Gifted Education Center(SGEC) affect the decision of graduates of gifted education institute in applying for science-related Special high school. To this end, the study investigated factors that affected their decision on applying for higher SGEC, such as career goal prior to their admission to a SGEC, motivation for the admission, and curricular activities at SGEC. A questionnaire survey was administered on 30 students, and resulting data were used as basic information to construct interview questions. Selected 22 students among them were interviewed separately, with transcripts of the recorded interviews being analyzed. The results of the study indicate that among many factors of SGEC for the gifted which affected student's choice of special-purpose high school of science, activities of the center putting an emphasis on open research activities and social interaction had a positive effect on the students' choice of special high school.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2017

This study seeks to explore high school students' changing attitudes toward science-related career choices with focus on the scientific career cultural capital perspective. We developed a questionnaire and surveyed female high school students. We used the survey results to explore the scientific career cultural capital factors and characteristics of the students who have chosen a science-related career. We selected twelve participants through science-related career choice type and then conducted in-depth interviews with them. Through the in-depth interviews, we explored how the factors of scientific career cultural capital affect the students' career choices. The result shows that the students developed internal resources through norms of obligation and reciprocity within the structure (family, school, community) based on external resources. The internal resources affected their science-related career choice. In elementary school, the students' interests in science and science-related occupations are the most influential in their choice of career directions. In high school, however, the students also considered career cognition, aptitude cognition, and career-value factors in their career choices. The interests in science were formed mainly due to education activity and daily-life activity. Over time, education activity's effect increased. The interests in science-related occupations were formed mainly due to daily-life activity during elementary school. In high school, the interests in science-related occupations formed due to diverse internal and external resources. Students who maintained a science-related career attracted external resources. Furthermore, they reinforced internal resources through interacting with various external resources. This study has implications for science education concerning students' science-related career choices.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.841-856
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• 2015

This study sought to explore longitudinal changes in Korean fourth graders' career aspirations in science. The sample included those who had high interest, but low career aspirations in science, and the analysis focused on the concept of science identity. To achieve this study's objectives, we selected 14 participants and then conducted two in-depth interviews with them. Compared with the first interviews (4th grade), changes were observed in eight students' career aspirations in science in the second round (5th grade). While six students maintained "negative" career aspiration, six revealed "medium" and two revealed "positive" career aspiration in science. To explore the relationship between science identities and career aspirations in science, three students were selected from the sample for further study. According to the results, the aspects of science identity that students valued regarding potential careers varied individually. Depending on these aspects, each student showed different patterns in the interactions between different aspects of science identity, and between aspects of science identity and science-related career aspirations. Over time, participants' experiences and interactions with people around them produced changes in their science identity, which led to changes in their career aspirations resulting from the interactions between aspects of their science identity. Their career aspirations in science were also significantly influenced by each participant's perceptions of relationships with peers (i.e., recognition by peers and of peers) and of science-related careers. Therefore, the results suggest that students need to be provided with appropriate learning environments and guidance relating to science careers.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2024

In this study, we investigated the perceptions of science-related careers and career education among middle school science teachers. Sixty-four science teachers experienced in teaching unit 7 in the first year of middle school participated. The results of the study revealed that not only careers in science but also careers with science were found to be quite high when teachers were asked to provide examples of science-related careers. Jobs related to research/engineering, which are careers in science, comprised the highest proportion of teachers' answers, followed by jobs related to education/law/social welfare/police/firefighting/military, and health/medical, which are careers with science. However, the proportion of jobs mentioned related to installation/maintenance/production was extremely low. The skills required for science-related careers were mainly perceived to consist of tools for working and ways of working. The number of skills classified under living in the world was perceived to be extremely low across most careers, irrespective of career type. Most teachers only taught unit 7 for two to four sessions and devoted little time to science-related career education, even in general science classes. In the free semester system, a significant number of teachers responded that they provide science-related career education for more than 8 hours. Teachers mainly utilize lecture, discussion/debate, and self-study activities. Meanwhile, in the free semester system, the resource-based learning method was utilized at a high proportion compared to other class situations. Teachers generally made much use of media materials, with the use of textbooks and teacher guides found to be lower than expected. There were also cases of using materials supported by science museums or the Ministry of Education. Teachers preferred to implementing student-centered classes and utilizing various teaching and learning methods. Based on the above research results, discussions were proposed to improve teachers' perceptions of science-related careers and career education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.518-526
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• 2006

Science career education is for every student as well as for students who want to become scientists. In this study, we developed and applied science career education materials using TV programs which showed successful application of science in industry and business. The effects of the programs were surveyed mainly by questionnaire on 'Science Career Orientation', which have four categories.Video materials using TV programs were effective in changing science career orientation (p<0.05) of junior high school students, but only when the teacher added some cognitive explanation on the scientific concept involved. Providing only video materials were not enough to make meaningful change on science career orientation. The results implied science career education should be linked with science teaching and learning. It also showed the possibility and the way of using informal education like TV program in science career education.